Saggar Makers Social Club

It was a nightclub, not the fucking Berlin Wall.

A couple of t-shirts poking fun at P£t£r Hook, FAC251 and the whole tendency in Manchester to be stuck in a timewarp centred on Factory records and the Hacienda.

“When people rob graves, some cunt tends to die of some hex or mosquito bite… so we can only keep our fingers crossed that Hooky’s cock falls off or something (we’re not total animals).”

FUC51 Blog

T-shirts here, not one penny will be lining Peter Hook’s pockets (the only things left in Manchester that he hasn’t claimed royalties on)

The Hulme Crescents

In Hulme, Manchester, in the 1960s, a new and (at the time) innovative design for deck access and tower living was attempted, whereby curved rows of low-rise flats with deck access far above the streets was created, known as the ‘Crescents’. These were put up to replace the, now demolished, slum housing that was cleared all over Manchester int he 60s, destroying many working class communities and displacing people all over the city.

In this arrangement, motor vehicles remained on ground level with pedestrians on concrete walkways overhead, above the smoke and fumes of the street. High-density housing was balanced with large green spaces and trees below, and the pedestrian had priority on the ground over cars. At the time, the ‘Crescents’ won several design awards and had some notable first occupants, such as Nico and Alain Delon. However, what eventually turned out be recognised as poor design, workmanship, and maintenance meant that the crescents introduced their own problems.

Design flaws and unreliable “system build” construction methods, as well as the 1970s Oil Crisis meant that heating the poorly insulated homes became too expensive for its low income residents, and the crescents soon became notorious for being cold, damp and riddled with cockroaches and other vermin. Reports from local residents of the period also suggest that at this time, a combination of increasing economic hardship, poor maintenance and the Housing Act meant that many tenants who had maintained a sense of civic pride in the area left, as standards went into free fall as a result of the Act. The auspices of the Act allowed anyone claiming state benefits the right to a Council home. As a result, the now notoriously unpopular properties became a “dumping ground” for many of the city’s poorest, most deprived, and indeed, anti-social members of society.

Before Hulme started its transition into the gentrified southern campus of Manchester Met University it was a magnet for every crazy, every loon, every counterculture inclined freak in the north of England and beyond. By the time of acid house the structure of the area had totally decayed and it was a boom time for the party mob. Before house music became the staple of wine bars and overpriced DJs, it was the soundtrack to wild squat parties and guerrilla clubs just setting up where the fuck they liked.

The hottest spot of the time was a ‘club’ known as The Kitchen which was merely 3 box flats knocked into one with a massive sound system banging out acid anthems. The Hacienda might have only been 10 minutes down the road but here was the real party. It was just on another planet from Tony Wilson’s famous folly of a club. The coppers left the place well alone, the drugs were sold out of the local pubs and every raver, junkie, graffiti artist and dog-on-a-string type were there looking for a good time.